Hollywood Needs to Shake Stereotypes

While the rest of the country debates affirmative action, I suggest that Hollywood examine its concept of affirmative image.

As I scan the display ads for films in the Calendar section of my Saturday Times, the images leaping off the pages comprise 29 white males, six African American males, 19 white females and two African American females. Since when was L.A. County, California or America devoid of Latino or Asian Americans?

Furthermore, if I were a teen-aged girl of any ethnicity, I would be hard-put to find any role models. Apart from four relationships films showing males and females equally, I find the movies that project dominant female images through their ads deal with brides, babies, models, mistresses, table dancers and victims of domestic abuse. That would leave me only “Tank Girl,” and somehow I suspect a film about a woman with an armored vehicle in the year 2033 is really written for males anyway.

Now, if I were a teen-aged boy, I’d see titles such as “Man of the House,” “Major Payne” and a full-page “Tommy Boy.” In the “Tall Tale” ad I would encounter a boy looking at his male heroes, and for “Born to Be Wild” I would see “The story of a 15-year-old boy and one incredible gorilla.” (The gorilla is Katie, but I don’t think she counts.)

Of course, we have seen progress in the last decade from “The Color Purple” to “The Joy Luck Club” to intelligent females in “Jurassic Park” and a Beauty who reads books. But there must be more to the spectrum than the Victorian dreamers of “Little Women” and the suicidal vigilantes of “Thelma & Louise.” The time has come for women to insist on buying the tickets and for producers to bring to the big screen the stories of women whose real-life exploits would make those of Pecos Bill look pale.

JEAN COLLINSWORTH

San Dimas